Randy Travis and wife-manager split

Friday

A statement to The Associated Press on Friday says the couple has "agreed to part ways" and asks for privacy. The statement did not indicate whether they had filed for divorce. Neither could be reached for comment.

The couple has had a 34-year business and personal relationship that began when a teenage Travis won a talent contest at the Charlotte, N.C., nightclub his future wife owned in the mid-1970s with her first husband. They married in 1991.

Elizabeth Travis said in the statement she will continue to be Travis' personal manager.

They moved to Nashville in the early 1980s. Travis was turned down by most of the record labels in town because he was considered too country.

Under her guidance, he eventually landed a record deal and put out his first album, "Storms of Life," in 1985. Soon the singer with the smooth baritone and straight-up style revolutionized the genre, spurring the so-called neotraditionalist movement that produced some of country's biggest stars.

Travis went on to sell millions of albums and has won more than two dozen major awards, including six Grammys. His latest came earlier this year when he won best country collaboration for "I Told You So," a duet with Carrie Underwood.

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Online:

http://www.randytravis.com

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